76 Russian passenger planes seized due to Western sanctions on aviation industry

Russia has lost 76 passenger planes because of Western sanctions imposed on its aviation industry after its full-scale aggressive war on Ukraine, propaganda outlet Kommersant reported, citing Russian Transport Minister Vitaliy Saveliev, who is himself under US sanctions. "The decision to seize the planes took us by surprise. We have lost a total of 76 passenger planes." The United States and the European Union banned the supply of aircraft and components to Russia, and also obliged lessors to return leased aircraft, which make up as much as 40% of the Russian fleet, Bloomberg wrote earlier. A number of Russian aircraft have been seized. Russia's largest leasing company, GTLK, abandoned on Nov. 16 its summer plans to raise lease rates by 30% for 37 aircraft owned by its subsidiary, GTLK Europe. Most are reportedly operated by Aeroflot and Rossiya, as well as S7, Aurora, and Yamal airlines. The Russian Transport Ministry had to intervene to reach the "compromise". The European Union has proposed a ban on the export of machine tools and machine parts used by Russia to manufacture weapons for its war against Ukraine as part of its 12th package of sanctions against Russia, Bloomberg reported on Nov. 15, citing an EU document. Previous reports suggested that the 12th round of sanctions could impact $5.3b worth of EU trade with Russia. Story has more.<br/>